Shark Tank 4/13/12

The difference: Stacked Wines are sold as a four pack. Copa de Vino is sold as singles.
Is that enough to get around a patent? I don't know.

But I think the guy was stupid for not taking the final deal with the 3 sharks.

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I don't think he was stupid at all.

Last time he was on the show, I'm sure people would have also said he was stupid for not making a deal as well. Now he has a successful brand, and probably knows more about the industry than ever before. Many wine makers are passionate about their products. They are like microbrew beer makers and he likely has a passion for his own product, not just the delivery system. He's sitting pretty on the distribution patent as a fall-back, he got more exposure (and potentially more offers) by just appearing on the show, and he's currently doing well with his business. He is in the driver's seat and doesn't have to be forced into a bad deal if he doesn't want to. Even at 12% for $300k, that's not a great deal. Cuban's deal offer? Even worse.

Just needing capital to fill large volume orders that may require a new facility isn't really a "problem" at all. If he doesn't fill that order, he's still probably going to max out capacity at his current facility and still do quite well.

Last time he was on the show, I'm sure people would have also said he was stupid for not making a deal as well. Now he has a successful brand, and probably knows more about the industry than ever before. Many wine makers are passionate about their products. They are like microbrew beer makers and he likely has a passion for his own product, not just the delivery system. He's sitting pretty on the distribution patent as a fall-back, he got more exposure (and potentially more offers) by just appearing on the show, and he's currently doing well with his business. He is in the driver's seat and doesn't have to be forced into a bad deal if he doesn't want to. Even at 12% for $300k, that's not a great deal. Cuban's deal offer? Even worse.

Just needing capital to fill large volume orders that may require a new facility isn't really a "problem" at all. If he doesn't fill that order, he's still probably going to max out capacity at his current facility and still do quite well.

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The problem is the disconnect with this guy. He can't separate his wine making from the packaging patent. He wants to concentrate on making wine and he wants to sell his wine in the single serve. What they were all saying is his wine is not that good and to license the packaging to other wine makers.

So they wine guy is good enough friends with Jim Koch to have him on speed dial but apparently not good enough friends to get him to invest. I'm puzzled by that. If the product is that good, you'd think Koch would want a piece of it as well, no?

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That was exactly the Shark's point: All these "experts" were telling this guy what his company is worth, yet NONE of them are investing any money in him. The old adage of something is only worth what somebody will pay for it.

At the core, the Sharks didn't agree with his evaluation of the company....that and the guy is just an idiot for not realizing that the BILLION dollar potential is in the licensing, not in making your own brand of wine.

That was exactly the Shark's point: All these "experts" were telling this guy what his company is worth, yet NONE of them are investing any money in him. The old adage of something is only worth what somebody will pay for it.

At the core, the Sharks didn't agree with his evaluation of the company....that and the guy is just an idiot for not realizing that the BILLION dollar potential is in the licensing, not in making your own brand of wine.

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Right. Especially since everyone's taste vary on wine and his probably isn't all that grand. It's the packaging that's the money maker. Even I thought it was damn cool and I'm not a wine drinker.

The problem is the disconnect with this guy. He can't separate his wine making from the packaging patent. He wants to concentrate on making wine and he wants to sell his wine in the single serve. What they were all saying is his wine is not that good and to license the packaging to other wine makers.

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That's not a disconnect as it's his option not theirs. Think about it, the sharks want to force him into making a deal. Of course the sharks will say his wine isn't good. His sales say otherwise and he is literally back on the show because he needs more capital to build another production facility for his wine. If the delivery method is the key to his wine sales, then so be it. He owns the patent and can fall back on the single-serve delivery distribution licensing at anytime. Or maybe he never will if his own wine brand continues to sell well. It's selling very well and he can't keep up with demand. That's a good thing.

It's funny how these shows no doubt edit them to make the guy look bad. They definitely did it with the Scottvest guy and after reading his Facebook posts and getting a bit more backstory on his situation, it was clear that all was not what it seems. Cuban's final deal sucked. His pondering over the deal could have taken place over a 2hr negotiation for all we know, and they edited it to make it look like he was stalling. I think he was very smart in not taking the shark's deal.

He doesn't need the sharks to do a licensing deal at all. That's the irony.
He can simply hire a negotiator with experience in licensing to work on his behalf if he can't do it himself, and not give up any equity. Or not. The Scottvest guy came off as a jerk in the edited version of the show, but you could tell that guy didn't need any help negotiating. Maybe this wine guy doesn't either. He sure didn't take Cuban's crap deal which shows he has some smarts.

Again, or better yet, he can do what he loves and make wine, not license out the distribution at all, and make millions doing that. If his wine brand succeeds (which it is) it just gives him greater leverage in any future licensing negotiations.